A VETERAN former councillor who defected to Alba has rejoined the SNP and has called for parties across the pro-independence movement to come together.
Brian Topping, who was a Fraserburgh councillor for 38 years before losing his seat in the 2022 local elections, informed the party he would not be renewing his membership.
He informed his old friend Alex Salmond of his decision before the former first minister died on October 12.
Topping told the Press and Journal he almost returned to local politics as he wanted to stand in the Aberdeenshire Council’s Fraserburgh by-election this week, but his family asked him not to.
READ MORE: Scotland reacts to Donald Trump's US election victory
Instead, he campaigned for local SNP candidate Mike McDonald, in an area where Alba hadn’t fielded a candidate.
Topping told The Press and Journal: “A lot of friends in the SNP were keen to have me back.
“I was nearly standing at this by-election. The branch was keen.”
He told the newspaper that his wife and children were against the idea of him returning to the local authority due to the amount of work he’d put in during his 38 years as a councillor.
“It’s only fair to my family,” he added.
Topping said there were no hard feelings with his departure from Alba and he was devastated by long-time friend Salmond’s death.
He told the P&J: “Alex knew I was unhappy, but we didn’t have any falling out. He knew I hadn’t renewed.
“We were on the best of terms. I’m so upset at his passing. We were very close.
“Alex was the best politician in the UK. He could wipe the floor with any of them.”
Salmond’s Alba Party appealed to Topping because he could stand in the Holyrood and local elections without endangering other pro-independence candidates.
However, he was unhappy over Alba’s decision to run for more than a dozen candidates in the general election, which has a winner-takes-all voting system.
“I wasn’t too happy. I’d even said to Alex, I don’t agree with that,” he said. Topping told the P&J he did, however, understand why Salmond had made the decision, even though he disagreed.
“In Alex’s defence, he’d written to Humza asking for a meeting trying to get the parties to meet.
“Humza didn’t even have the courtesy of giving Alex a reply.
“Alex had his reasons.”
Topping added he would like to see unity across Scotland’s pro-independence parties as he said: “Everything I’ve done has been about bringing folk together.
“I have nothing against Alba. I would still like the Yes movement to come together, so we can sing from the same song sheet.”
At the local elections in 2022, Topping was seen as one of Alba’s best hopes at the time but only got 5.8% of the vote.
He said: “The few votes I did get, a lot of them were personal votes.
“I lost my seat, because Alba was obviously a new party.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel